Clerks Cartoon Test Footage by Powerhouse Animation — nice Galactus head in the background.

The accompanying note says it was done primarily in Flash, which is interesting. I don’t know if there’s been a feature-length animated movie done in Flash. I doubt it’s 100% Flash. The blurring and smoke were probably done in something else.

Hopefully the movie’ll be better than the short-lived animated series. I saw both episodes that aired on ABC and I thought it was awful. I tried to get the DVD from Netflix but it got lost in the mail, so I took that as a sign that someone doesn’t want me to watch all of them.

Related: a good look at the upcoming Dogma InAction Figures (why is it in the “Apparel” section of the Previews site, and not in, say, the “Toys & Models” section?).

According to DavisDVD, Mark Romanek has been confirmed as a subject for the next wave of Palm Pictures’ Directors Label series. I have no idea who else will be featured, but I’d recommend Roman Coppola and/or Shynola.

Coppola recently did a TRON-esque video for The Strokes song “12:51”, while Shynola made “Good Song” for Blur, featuring a squirrel. Both can be seen at The Directors Bureau (under “Archive”).

Kill Bill Figure Sneak Peak — a very nice sculpt of Ms. Thurman (and her shoes). I can’t wait to see what the rest look like.

Update [Dec.31]: Here’s a look at The Crazy 88s.

Update [Jan.07]: …and a prototype of Go Go.

An official announcement is forthcoming, but it looks like Freaks and Geeks IS getting a DVD release in April. I’ve only seen the “you can’t say ‘bitch’ on Fox Family Channel” versions, so this is good news.

The Ladykillers (trailer) — I thought that first shot of Hanks was John C. Reilly. Whoops. So this is the next Coen Bros. movie, a remake of a 50’s movie of the same name. It looks pretty funny. Marlon Wayans getting slapped around by an old lady equals box office gold.

What’s more interesting than the trailer itself, though, is that Yahoo! Movies provided a QuickTime version of it (although it’s kind of shitty). Still, it’s the thought that counts, I guess. But what’s strange is that the QT version is only available from that link, and not from the film’s trailers page.

Update: The film’s official site has a better QuickTime version of the trailer.

The Village (teaser) — M. Night Shyamalan’s next. I’m definitely not a fan of the man’s work. I was loving Signs until its dumb ending, which, to me, ruined everything prior. Looks like this one may or may not have some big twist ending, too (potentially HUGE spoiler at AICN, and more to the point at IMDb boards). There seems to be debate as to whether the script the ending came from is real or a fake. Either way. [via AICN]

I’m not sure who designed Yahoo! HQ in Sunnyvale, but the building makes for a rather pleasant earthquake experience. It was almost gentle, like being on a boat.

Today I signed up for KnowSpam service (the free trial, anyway). I had been using SpamAssassin on my mail server, and it was doing a pretty good job, catching on average about ninety percent of the spam I received. But in the past week it’s been less effective. When I checked my mail this morning, I had more than fifty emails, of which only 1 was not actually spam. SpamAssassin caught about thirty, which isn’t bad, but I have had enough.

I was reluctant to sign up when I first heard of the service a few months ago because I didn’t like the idea of making it more difficult for people to contact me, even if it was just one click of a link. But fuck it. This is war.

In the past four hours, KnowSpam has blocked about twenty junk emails, and let through the one piece of mail that wasn’t spam. So I guess it’s working.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (trailer) — I never even heard of this before. Design-wise, I think it’s incredible. The color, the type, the “sets”, and machinery all work together nicely. Writer/Director Kerry Conran’s IMDb bio is interesting. I think it’s safe to assume that the program in question was used for this picture.

Walter Murch: An Interview with the Editor of Cold Mountain — Murch talks about editing in general, and what it was like to edit Anthony Minghella’s $80 million picture using Final Cut Pro 3.

Related: Joel and Ethan Coen: Editing Intolerable Cruelty.

DC Direct: The Dark Knight Returns Action Figures — Batman and Superman look a little weird (their legs look wrong), but that Joker is bad ass.

Move over Jackass. Now Amélie is inspiring mischief. [thanks jose]

The Big Bounce (trailer) — is “It’s Your Thing” by The Isley Bros. the Elmore Leonard theme song now?

Mac OS 10.3.2, QuickTime 6.5, iTunes 4.2, Final Cut Pro 4.1.1, LiveType 1.1.1, DVD Studio Pro 2.0.3, and Xcode 1.1 have all been released within the past 24 hours. And there’s a Security Update scheduled for later tonight, too. iTunes must be downloaded, while the rest are available through Software Update.

Torque (trailer) — didn’t anybody learn anything from Biker Boyz?

The Chronicles Of Riddick (trailer) — looks kind of like a rich man’s Dune.

The Onion | Non-Widescreen Version Of DVD Received As Hanukkah Gift — one error worth correcting: on a film shot 2.35:1 (approx) like The Matrix Reloaded, 47% of the picture is lost by “pan & scan”, not 30%. Films shot at 1.85:1 (Bottle Rocket, for example) lose 30% of each frame.

Flash Player 7.0.19 is out.

Wired News: New Gun Shoots Around Corners — that’s only 120° away from this.

AFI’s 2003 Movies of the Year — is there a second page that I’m not seeing, or is it just a coincidence that no movies starting with the letter N and beyond are listed? I like the “rationale” for Return Of The King. It’s even better if you imagine David Cross saying it in his D&D voice. [via Kottke]

“Winter Prelude” at Orbit 1 — incredible photos.

Spider-Man 2 (teaser) — I hope that delivering trailers via Flash doesn’t become the norm. This one seems to have an annoying hiss running through it. (But at least it isn’t in Real or Windows Media.) Besides the technical issues, I think the movie is looking good. [Update Dec.17] Apple’s got a QuickTime version up now.

Garfield (teaser) — is that dog supposed to be Odie?

Taking Lives (trailer) — not sure what to make of this. It’s directed by D.J. Caruso, who did The Salton Sea, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

The American Package Museum — highlights include Alka Seltzer, Postum, Shinola (any relation to Shynola?), and Tums. [via Typographi.ca]

Seinfeld to produce, write, & star in CGI-animated Bee Movie. Meanwhile, MC Hammer to star in WB sitcom about his life after rap.

BBEdit 7.1.1 Update — fixes my one complaint from 7.1: you can now manually refresh the HTML preview.

Giant Robot SF

Maritime, featuring Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier, formerly of Promise Ring, and Eric Axelson, formerly of Dismemberment Plan — I finally heard their Adios EP and it’s pretty good. It picks up exactly where PR’s Wood/Water left off.

Done Deal: Script and Pitch Sales [via Coudal]

iTunes2HTML (Free) and iTunes Catalog ($10)

Fight Club Game Coming To PS2

R!OT Manhattan Brands Cablevision’s HD Cinema 10 — a classy graphics package.

The Mouse — a third-party mouse based on Apple’s standard mouse, with an added right button and scroll wheel. The best mouse, though? It’s still Microsoft’s IntelliMouse Explorer.

The Farrellys’ Double Vision

The Passion Of The Christ — the site for Mel Gibson’s controversial Jesus flick is online, with a teaser trailer. The trailer kind of makes it look like a Michael Bay picture.

Tomato will publish an experimental PS2 game called wordimagesoundplay, to be available in Japan, possibly Europe. [via /.]

Overheard: A MAN and WOMAN having lunch at a table outside Pasta Pomodoro on 24th St. I was walking by.

MAN (to WOMAN): “Shiznit… S-H-I-Z-N-I-T.”

Mozilla Firebird @ texturizer.net — documentation, help, tips & tricks, etc.

Saul Bass & Associates — based on material originally published in 1979, so his later work isn’t represented. But it’s better than nothing.

Spending fifty dollars on shampoo and conditioner is very emasculating.

If it’s possible to reach a conclusion based on only two of its releases, 2004 is shaping up to be a bad year in music. I’m not even sure if Liars’ They Were Wrong So We Drowned counts as “music”. There is a whole lot of chanting and some erratic beats, but it’s not listenable. (A shame, too, ’cause I really like They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top.)

And Trans Am? Despite Thrill Jockey’s assurances, Trans Am’s upcoming Liberation is more synth bullshit. The album’s lead-off track, “Outmoder”, does a good job at fooling the listener into thinking it’s the Trans Am of old, but that illusion is over once track two starts (“Uninvited Guest”, featuring that recut GW Bush State of the Union with some synth underneath). I guess it’s not as bad as last year’s TA. “Outmoder” and “June” are keepers, and “Pretty Close to the Edge” is interesting (it reminds me of one of the TransChamps tracks). On the other hand, I would love for someone to explain to me what the fuck “White Rhino” is supposed to be. Or, describe to me a situation where one would intentionally listen to that song. I can’t think of any.

Update [Dec.08]: I’ve listened to Liberation a few more times, and it’s not as bad as I stated above. The guitar-to-synth ratio is higher than I first gathered, so that’s good. But I stand by what I said about “White Rhino” (and what I said about that Liars disc).